A six-day layoff had the Onondaga Community College women's basketball team looking uncharacteristically sluggish early in Friday's Region III quarterfinal.

When the second-ranked Lazers hit their stride, North Country was powerless to stop them.

Onondaga opened the second half with a 12-0 run and cruised to a 96-53 victory over North County in an NJCAA Region III women's basketball quarterfinal at OCC's Allyn Hall.

It was the 16th straight victory for the Lazers (27-4), who are eyeing their fourth trip to the NJCAA Final Four in the past six seasons. Top-seeded Onondaga meets No. 4 Schenectady, an 84-77 winner over No. 5 Hudson Valley in Friday's final contest, at 3 p.m. Saturday in the second semifinal.

"That was one of our better second halves all season," said Onondaga head coach Mike Wheeler.

The No. 8 -seed Saints (16-12) whittled the Onondaga lead to 30-24 with 5:58 remaining in the half. Wheeler called time out in an attempt to shake his team from its slumber..

"I told them we were playing lackadaisical defense," said Wheeler, whose school is hosting the tournament for the first time. "I challenged them a little."

Sophomore Kayla Kibling (Bishop Ludden) hit a pair of 3-pointers to spark the first Lazers' surge. OCC went on a 21-9 tear and headed into the break with an 18-point cushion.

"We start off real slow," Kibling said. "We just know that we can come back once we get our momentum going."

Kibling sliced through the Saints' defense and hit a handful of runners and finished with 19 points. She also had four assists and three of her team's 16 steals --- the fuel for the Lazers' lethal fast break.

Onondaga continued the onslaught in the second half, eclipsing their season average of just over 90 points per game -- the highest total in the nation. This gave Wheeler's bench plenty of work as he hopes he'll need his core for three games in three days.